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ro Persons desiring to become members 3 
_ should present their names and addr 
ponding Secretary, who will submit them 
Committee for election. An annual fee 
required of members, in return for which 


to all publications of the society. 
or is 

HERBERT WELS 
1305 ArcH STREET, P 7 


HISTORY AND CONDITION 


OF 


THE CATAWBA INDIANS 


OFASOUTH SEAROLINA, 


BY 


iE WISRSCAIFE, 


INSTRUCTOR OF ENGLISH, TRINITY HALL, LOUISVILLE, KY. 


5 PHILADELPHIA: 
OFFICE OF INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION, 
1305 ARCH STREET. 
1896. 





19,33 
Phywire Crt: 


HISTORY AND CONDITION 


OF THE 


Catawba Indians of South Carolina. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


On the banks of the Catawba River, in York County, South 
Carolina, the survivors of the once powerful Catawba Nation still 
linger on ancestral ground. Though surrounded by influences 
which should be civilizing, they are no more fortunate than fel- 
low tribes that were long ago driven to more primitive abodes. 
Perhaps the Catawba Indians are expected to voluntarily take 
advantage of opportunities within their reach, but is this not 
overestimating the capacity of an ‘‘inferior’’ people, when the 
Caucasian race itself must be spurred to self-improvement by 
compulsory education ? 

The Catawba Indians present a wonderful example of faithful- 

_ hess and devotion to the American people, but history has never 
done them justice, nor has a full account of them appeared even 
in a newspaper or a magazine. Indeed, this people, which once 
made the woods of Carolina ring with the war-whoop as they 
went forth against the enemies of the early settlers, have been 
allowed to dwindle away unnoticed, until now the very fact of 
the existence of an Indian in South Carolina is, perhaps, not 
generally known, even in counties almost touching the Catawba 
Reservation. Recent historians of South Carolina fail to men- 
tion that descendants of the earliest known inhabitants of that 
State still reside within its borders, and school children are left 
in ignorance of this interesting fact. But the historians of 
America might well leave unnoticed the Catawba Indians, for, 
let the pen be handled ever so nicely, it would leave a blot on 
the pages of history. When the white man appeared, the savage 
glory of the Catawba Nation at once began to decline, the 
primeval forests were laid low, and the Indians were driven from 
the haunts they loved. The white man brought with him the In- 
dian’s death-warrant, and the work of extermination has now been 
well-nigh accomplished. Since South Carolina began to be settled 


3 


4 


in 1682, the population of the Catawba Nation has been reduced 
more than 98 percent. This tribe has bequeathed its name to 
the Catawba River; if they are allowed to become extinct, 
may the white man, at least, leave it unchanged to perpetuate 
a nation’s memory; after the posterity of one of America’s 
great aboriginal tribes has ceased, let the Catawba River bear 
the name of this ill-fated people to remind future generations of 
the white man that upon its banks, where factories will stand, 
another race, with no ambition for civilization, has fished and 
fought and passed away. 


HISTORY. 


A recent publication of the Smithsonian Institution (*‘ Siouan 
Tribes of the East,’’ by James Mooney) asserts that the origin 
and meaning of the word Catawba are unknown. In 1881, the 
Bureau of Ethnology collected a vocabulary of 10,000 words 
from the tribe of Indians bearing this name, and, after critical 
examination by experts, their language was pronounced un- 
mistakably of Siouan stock. The home of the Sioux family is 
believed to have been at one time in the upper Ohio valley, 
from whence one branch migrated east and the other west, and 
Mr. Mooney says that linguistic evidence indicates that the 
Eastern tribes reached the Atlantic slope long before the West- 
ern reached the plains. 

The historian, Schoolcraft, in his ‘‘ Indian Tribes of North 
America,’’ gives the full text of a traditionary account of the 
Catawba Indians which he found in an old manuscript, preserved 
in the office of Secretary of State of South Carolina. This 
document claims that the Catawbas were originally a Canadian 
tribe that was driven from its home by the Connewango Indians 
and the French about the year 1650; after telling of temporary 
settlements of the tribe in Kentucky and Virginia, it finally 
brings them to the Catawba River (Zswa Tavora) in South 
Carolina, where they engage in a fierce battle with the Chero- 
kees, each side losing about rooo men. After the battle peace 
is declared, the Catawbas agreeing to settle on the northeast 
side of the river, while the Cherokees were to confine themselves 
to territory west of Broad River (called by the Indians Zswa 
Huppeday, or line river), the intervening country being neutral 
ground. Nation Ford, one mile north of the present reserva- 
tion, is named as the scene of hostilities, and it is claimed that 


5 


the Indians heaped up a great pile of stones on the spot to com- 
memorate the battle. However, Mr. Mooney, in his ‘‘ Siouan 
Tribes of the East,’’ discredits many of the details of this off- 
cial paper, and he shows that the Catawbas, instead of being 
driven out of Canada in 1650, were found established near their 
present locality by Juan Pardo, a Spanish captain, who made an 
expedition into the interior of South Carolina from St. Helena 
in 1567; he also points out the probability of their having been 
the Gauchule mentioned by De Soto’s chroniclers. 

At any rate, when South Carolina first began to be settled, 
the Catawba Nation was one of the most powerful and warlike 
tribes in the South. By right of savage manhood they controlled 
large territories in the two Carolinas, and in their strength they 
could successfully hold their ground against such formidable in- 
vaders as the Iroquois; while from Canada to the Gulf of 
Mexico ‘‘ women trembled at the name of Hodenosanne’’ and 
the bravest warriors dreaded this foe, the Catawbas were not 
afraid to make expeditions even into the Iroquois country. 
Lawson, who visited the tribe in 1701, speaks of them as a pow- 
erful nation, and he tells us that their villages were very thick ; 
Adair states that one of their cleared fields extended seven miles, 
and a later writer says that at this time the tribe perhaps num- 
bered 10,000 souls. 

The customs and religious rites of the Catawbas were mostly 
like those of other Indians. Some of both of these, however, 
seem to have been more or less peculiar to themselves. School- 
craft mentions that a branch of this tribe, which at one time 
lived near the mouth of Santee River, had a practice of binding 
the heads of their children so as to make their foreheads flat and 
their eyes protrude, which they claimed made them better 
hunters. It might be mentioned here, incidentally, that no trace 
of this practice or any of its hereditary effects can be found 
among them now. To darken their skin, they oiled their bodies 
and then exposed them to the sun. Like other tribes, the 
Catawbas practised the habit of plucking the beard. They 
used a comb set with rattlesnake teeth to scrape the affected 
part before applying medicine in cases of lameness, and scratching 
the shoulder of a stranger at parting was regarded by them as a 
very great compliment. 

From the earliest times the Catawbas have been kindly dis- 
posed toward the white settler. They fought for him in the 
French and Indian War; they helped him to secure his inde- 


6 


pendence from Great Britain ; and more than once they marched 
under the Colonial flag against their own race. It is true that 
during the Yamasi War the Spaniards incited them to join the 
other Indian forces to crush the English settlers; but from this 
single instance of hostility the Colonists must have suffered little 
at their hands, for no deeds of violence attributed directly to 
them are recorded. The Catawbas made ample reparation for 
their conduct on this occasion, and it was the first and last time 
that they ever revolted against the Carolinians. 

In 1711, Colonel Barnwell, of South Carolina, was sent with a 
small force against the Tuscarora Indians who had broken up the 
settlement of New Bern which had been made in North Carolina 
a few years before by Baron de Graffenried. More than one 
hundred Catawba warriors accompanied Colonel Barnwell, and 
in prosecuting the expedition several of them were killed. 

At the beginning of the French and Indian War, Governor 
Dinwiddie, of Virginia, appealed to the Catawba Nation for aid. 
The Catawbas promptly agreed to join the Colonial forces, but 
they were restrained from doing so by Governor Glenn, of South 
Carolina, who, having at heart their future welfare, reminded 
them that peace was their policy, as their ranks had already been 
thinned by war and that terrible scourge, small-pox, which was 
brought to America at an early date by the whites. 

Soon, however, General Washington, then colonel in the 
British army, discovered that the French were attempting to 
alienate the affections of the Southern Indians, and he made 
repeated efforts to bring the Catawbas into his service. Wash-— 
ington complained to Governor Dinwiddie of ‘‘ the magistrates 
in the back parts of Carolina, who were so regardless of the 
common cause as to allow 50 Catawbas to return, when they 
had proceeded near seventy miles on the march, for want of 
provisions and a conductor to entice them along.’’ For this he 
was severely criticised by Governor Dinwiddie, who accused him 
of unmannerly conduct. Eventually the Catawbas went to the 
assistance of the Colonial army, and for an account of the 
services they rendered the reader is referred to General Wash- 
ington’s correspondence. 

In one of his letters Washington stated: ‘‘ Unless we have 
Indians to oppose Indians, we can expect but small success.’’ In 
another, from Fort Loudoun, he wrote to John Robinson, 
Speaker of the House of Burgesses, of Virginia: ‘* Bullen, a 
Catawba warrior, has been proposing a plan to Captain Gist to 


7 


bring in the Creek and Chickasaw Indians. If such a scheme 
could be effected by the time we march to Fort Duquesne, it 
would be a glorious undertaking and worthy of the man.”’ 

In 1757, when a large party of Cherokees who had been serv- 
ing in the British army against the French in the West, and in 
the conquest of Fort Duquesne, were returning home through 
Virginia, some of the young warriors took possession of a num- 
ber of horses belonging to the whites. The latter retaliated by 
killing several of the Indians who had so lately fought in their 
defense. This unwarranted conduct on the part of the whites 
incensed the whole Cherokee Nation, and to further arouse the 
Indians’ spirit of revenge, the garrison at Fort George butchered 
to a man twenty Cherokee hostages when they resisted being 
manacled. A serious Indian war was thus precipitated. 

Once more in the time of sorest need the Catawba Nation 
came to the rescue and offered their services to the Governor of 
South Carolina. The Catawbas joined the forces under Colonel 
James Grant, who immediately marched his army into the 
Cherokee country. The battle of Etchoe, which followed, is 
thus referred to in Simm’s ‘‘ History of South Carolina :’’— 
‘« The auxiliary Indians of the army were brave experts, who 
answered the yells of the Cherokees in their own style, and met 
them with like stratagem ; and the result was the victory of the 
Carolinians, after one of the fiercest battles with the red men 
on the records of America.’’ 

It is claimed that the first white man to permanently settle in 
the Catawba country was one Thomas Spratt, an Irishman, 
whose descendants sfill live in that section. When the Catawbas 
learned that Spratt was in the neighborhood, they went to him 
and asked him his business and where he was going; offer- 
-Ing to give him their protection and all the land he wanted, 
they persuaded him to locate among them. It is said that on 
one occasion Spratt went to Charlotte, N. C., about twenty 
miles away, where he got on a spree and was put in jail. As 
soon as the Catawbas heard of his misfortune, they marched in a 
body to the town, broke down the doors, and carried the prisoner 
home in triumph. Spratt fought through the Revolution and 
died at an old age in 1807. 

Every nation venerates the memory of some great hero, and 
among the Catawbas this personage is King Haiglar, their most 
noted chief. The Catawbas might well be proud of Haiglar, 
and, though a monarch of a savage tribe, his character presents 


8 


traits which must be admired by those who live in the higher 


conditions of life. The following story, which is no doubt true, ; 


well illustrates the character of the man :— 


“Once a Frenchman, who was a great fiddler, was traveling through the 
country. The Indians were charmed and looked in wonder at the box from 
which the mysterious music came. One of them was so infatuated that he lay 
in ambush and murdered the poor musician to get possession of the fiddle. 
The news spread and the whites appealed to Spratt for protection. He went 
to King Haiglar and laid the case before him. The King promised that jus- 
tice should be done, and blew a piercing blast on his hunting-horn. Soon the 
Indians began collecting from every quarter, while the King stood alert with 
his rifle resting in the hollow of his arm. At length the guilty Indian ap- 
peared, carrying a dead deer upon his back. Without a word of warning, 
King Haiglar raised his rifle and shot him through the heart. Thus was the 
poor musician’s death avenged, and //is is the only record of a white man ever 
having been murdered by a Catawba.” 


Another remarkable incident in Haiglar’s life is the faet that 
he was probably the first person to present a temperance petition 
in the Carolinas. The following petition to Chief Justice Hen- 
ley, dated 26 May, 1756, has recently been found in the State 
archives of North Carolina :— 


“<I desire a stop may be put to the selling of strong liquors by the white 
people to my people, especially near the Indians. If the white people make 
strong drink, let them sell it to one another or drink it in their own families. 
This will avoid a great deal of mischief, which otherwise will happen from 
my people getting drunk and quarreling with the white people.” . 


Above all, King Haiglar was great in the affections of his 
people, and at his death no man could have been more sincerely 
mourned, The story of his assassination is thus told in Mill’s 
‘« Statistics of South Carolina; ’’— 

“Tn the year 1762, seven Shawnese Indians penetrated into the province 
and waylaid the road from the Waxhaws towards the old Catawba town on* 
Twelve Mile Creek. King Haiglar was then returning home from the Wax- 
haws, attended by a servant, and was there shot and scalped by them ; six balls 


penetrated his body. His servant escaped and gave notice; but they were 
pursued without success.” 


About the year 1764, a treaty between the Catawba Indians 
and the Province of South Carolina was made and signed at 
Augusta, Ga. This was probably the first treaty regarding their 
lands that the Catawbas made with the white people, and by 
the terms of it 144,000 acres of land on the Catawba River were 
confirmed to the tribe. 

About the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the tribe suf- 


9 


fered from a severe epidemic of small-pox. Probably in imita- 
tion of a treatment formerly applied by the whites, the Catawbas, 
as soon as attacked by the disease, exposed their bodies to a very 
high temperature in a kind of oven and then jumped into the 
river. From its virulent type and their malpractice in treating 
it, hundreds of them are said to have fallen victims of the 
plague, and for a long time the woods were offensive with their 
dead bodies, which became the prey of dogs, wolves, and vul- 
tures. 

During the Revolution, the Catawbas rendered valuable 
assistance to the Colonists. A company, consisting of too war- 
riors of the tribe, under the command of Colonel Thompson, 
took part in the defense of Fort Moultrie ; and besides being 
in a number of other battles, they were particularly useful 
throughout the war as guides, scouts, and runners. When Col- 
onel Williamson marched against the hostile Cherokees, whom 
British emissaries had incited to commence a series of brutal 
massacres upon the frontiers of Carolina, a large number of Ca- 
tawba warriors joined him, and in this campaign several of them 
were killed. Toward the close of the war, the entire tribe, ex- 
cept the members who were in active service in the American 
army, were compelled by the British to seek refuge in Virginia, 
where they remained until after the battle of Guilford Court 
House, in which some of the tribe took part. 

In 1782, deputies from the Catawba Nation appealed to Con- 
gress to secure to the tribe certain tracts of land, so that it 
could not be ‘‘ intruded into by force, nor alienated even with 
their own consent.’’ Whereupon Congress passed the following 
resolution :— 


* Resolved, That it be recommended to the Legislature of the State of 
South Carolina to take such measures for the satisfaction and security of the 
said tribe as the said Legislature shall, in their wisdom, think fit.” (See 
“‘ Laws of the Colonial and State Governments Relating to Indians and Indian 
Affairs,” from 1633 to 1831 inclusive, published by Thompson and Homans, 
of Washington, D. C., in 1832. Also see Brevard’s ‘‘ Digest of the Laws of 
South Carolina,” Vol I., Title 96, Indians.) 


In 1791, General Washington had a conference with the Ca- 
tawbas in what is now Lancaster County, S. C. ; and in his diary, 
under date of 27th May of that year, he wrote: ‘‘ At Mr. Craw- 
ford’s, I was met by some of the chiefs of the Catawba Nation, 
who seemed under apprehension that some attempts were being 
made, or would be made, to deprive them of a part of the 40,000 


Io 


acres which was secured to them by Treaty, and which was 
bounded by this Road.’’ 

During the next fifty years, several writers allude to the tribe ; 
Finlay’s ‘‘American Topography,’’ published in 1793, states 
that though the Catawbas still retained their former courage, their 
numbers had greatly declined, and the author attributes the 
cause to the whites encouraging their thirst for intoxicants ; 
Ramsay’s ‘‘ History of South Carolina,’’ published in 1809, tells 
us that of the 28 tribes of Indians inhabiting South Carolina 
when it began to be settled, all except the Catawbas had dis- 
appeared, and that these were so generally addicted to habits of 
indolence and intoxication, they were fast sinking into insignifi- 
cance ; in 1826, Mill’s ‘‘ Statistics of South Carolina’’ gave a 
more detailed account of the tribe, and it is from this anthority 
that the following passage is taken :— 

‘There are no other settlements, as villages, in the Yorkville district, except _ 
the Indian settlements on the Catawba River. These Indians have two towns; 
the most important is called Newtown, situated immediately on the river; the 
other is on the opposite side and is called Turkey Head. The Indian lands 
occupy an extent of country on both sides of the river equal to 180 square 
miles, or 115,200 acres. The most of this has been disposed of by them to the 
whites, in leases for ninety-nine years, renewable. The rent of each planta- 
tion (about 300 acres) is from $10 to $20 per annum. The annual income from 
this source must be at least $5000, which, if prudently managed, would soon 
place the Indians in a state of comfort; for the whole number of families does 
not exceed 30, or about 110 individuals. These wretched Indians, though they 
live in the midst of an industrious people and in an improved state of society, 
will be Indians still. They often dun for their rent before it is due, and the 
$10 or $20 received are spent in a debauch; poverty, beggary, and misery 
then follow for a year. Their lands are rich, but they will not work; they 
receive large sums as rent, but they cannot save money. What a state of 
degradation is this for a whole people to be in, all the result of neglect of duty 
on our part as guardians of their welfare.”’ 

Some of the early Acts of the Legislature of South Carolina 
mention the Catawba Indians, but these mostly refer to the pur- 
chase of skins and matters of insignificance. However, in 1839, 
after the subject had been before the House of Representatives 
for twelve years, Governor Noble was authorized to appoint a 
Commission to enter into negotiation with the tribe to cede their 
lands to the State, which up to this time the Catawbas were 
unwilling to do. 

The following extracts are taken from the Report of Commis- 
sioners, which was made at the next session of the Legislature :— 


“« The Catawbas have leased out every foot of land they held in their bound- 


It 


ary, the propriety and expediency of which we need not inquire. Some re- 
monstrated against it, while others (with the Indians) contended they had a 
right so to do, and for the last few years they have been wandering through the 
country, forming kind of camps, without any homes, houses, or fixed residence, 
and destitute of any species of property save dogs and a few worthless horses, 
and they now seem desirous of having a tract of land on which they can again 
settle and build little houses, according to the number of families, and procure 
some cattle, hogs, and poultry, which they were once in the habit of owning, 
and your Commissioners are of opinion $5000 would purchase a tract of land 
sufficient for their accommadation in any place they may wish, and in a moun- 
tainous, barren, thinly populated region might procure a considerable bounds, 
which might suit them best, and would recommend that their land should be 
secured -in such a way that they should not have it in their power to again 
lease, sell, or parcel it out except it might become the desire of the tribe to 
remove to some distant place. Your Commissioners would, with due deference, 
state, in behalf of the Catawba Indians, that probably they are entitled to some 
favor from the State or, at least, to its sympathy and kindness. Their chief 
(General Kegg) remarked that when they were a strong nation and the State 
weak they came to her support, and now when the State was strong and the 
Catawbas weak she ought to assist them. 

“One of your Commissioners stated from his own knowledge and recollec- 
tion that during the Revolution they left the State, he thinks for about eighteen 
months, or at least removed their women and children to a place of greater 
safety, by which move they lost their stock and poultry and all such articles 
as they could not take with them, while in the meantime a number of their 
warriors were in active service in the American cause—several of them were in 
the battles of Guilford, Hanging Rock, and Eutaw; were in several scrimmages 
with the Tories, and were particularly useful, as guides, scouts, and runners, 
and never were known to be ina British or Tory camp. They have now 
lived in the midst of a dense population for more than half a century, and your 
Commissioners all concur in testimony that they never have known or heard 
a dishonest charge made against a Catawba or their meddling with anything 
that did not belong to them, and have always been harmless, peaceable, and 
friendly, but (as is perhaps characteristic of Indians generally) they are indolent 
and improvident and seem to have little idea of laying up for their future 
wants, and your Commissioners believe that if they would have agreed to have 
paid them in hand for each one to have used as he chose, they might have ef- 
fected a treaty for one-third or even one-fourth the amount. Froma once popu 
lous tribe they dwindled down to 12 men, 36 women, and 40 young ones,— 
boys, girls, and children ; in all $8, nine of whom are counted with a family 
of Pamunkey Indians and it is believed will not be removed.” 


* = = * = * * * * ad = 25 


“Tt is not easy to ascertain with accuracy the amount of anntaLrents their 
lands have heretofore yielded. If the original survey is correct, their boundary 
contains 225 sections,which, at ten dollars each,would produce $2250. Some of 
the lands have been leased at a much higher rate and some not so high, but the 
foregoing is as near the amount as we have the means of ascertaining, and 
their income has been rather a nominal one, havimg in a great many instances 


12 


been badly paid in articles at high prices, that often answered them but little 
purpose. It is believed that one-third the amount judiciously managed 
might have been made to do them more good. Your Commissioners are of 
opinion that there are between 500 and 600 families now living on lands 
under lease from the Catawba Indians, and from 600 to Soo voters, and the 
lands have been divided and subdivided into various small tracts, of which 
transactions no regular record has ever been kept; it is a matter of wonder that 
the lessees have not got into more difficulty and htigation.”’ Mimp oe 


The following treaty, which was submitted by the Commis- 
sioners, was ratified by an Act of the Legislature passed during 
the session of 1840 :— 

“TREATY. 

“A treaty entered into at the Nation Ford, Catawba, between the Chiefs 
and Headmen of the Catawba Indians of the one part and the Commissioners 
appointed under a resolution of the Legislature, passed December, 1839, and 
acting under Commissions from his Excellency Patrick Noble, Esg., Gover- 
nor of the State of South Carolina, of the other part; 

“* ARTICLE First.—The Chiefs and Headmen of the Catawba Indians, for 
themselves and the entire nation, hereby agree to cede, sell, transfer, and con- 
vey to the State of South Carolina, all their right, title, and interest to their 
Boundary of Land lying on both sides of the Catawba River, situated jin the 
Districts of York and Lancaster, and which are represented in a plat of survey 
of fifteen miles square; made by Samuel Wiley and dated the twenty-second 
day of February, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and now on file 
in the Office of Secretary of State. 

‘‘ ARTICLE SECOND.—The Commissioners on their part engage in behalf of 
the State to furnish the Catawba Indians with a tract of land of the value of 
$5000.00; 300 acres of which is to be good arable lands fit for cultivation, to be 
purchased in Haywood County, North Carolina, or in some other mountainous 
~ or thinly populated region, where the said Indians may desire, and if no such 
tract can be procured to their satisfaction, they shall be entitled to receive the 
foregoing amount in cash from the State. . 

“ ARTICLE THIRD.—The Commissioners further engage that the State shall 
pay the said Catawba Indians $2500.00 at or immediately after the time of 
their removal, and $1500.00 each year thereafter, for the space of nine years. 
In witness whereof the contracting parties have hereunto set their hands 


and affixed their seals, this thirteenth day of March, Anno Domini one thou- 
sand eight hundred and forty, and in the sixty-fourth year of American 
Independence. 
(Signed) JOHN SPRINGS [L.S.], (Signed) JAMES KEGG, Gen.[L. S.] His X mark, 
(Signed) D. HUTCHISON [L. S (Signed) DAVID HARRIS, Col. (L. S.] ey 
(Signed) E. AVERY im " (Signed) JOHN JOE, Major [L. S.] His < mark, 

P (Signed) B. L. MASSEY L.S (Signed) WM. GEORGE, Capt. [ S.] His x’ 


~\_ (Signed) ALLEN MORROW[L.S.], (Signed) PHILIP KEGG, Lieut. [L. S.] His x" 
9}. D. P. CURRENCE for SAM SCOTT, SAML, SCOTT, Col. [L.S.] His X mark, + 
H. T. MASSEY for ALLEN HARRIS, ALLEN HARRIS, Lieu. [L. S.]. 


= Witness of those two signatures.’ 


2 y Recorded 21st December, 1843. 


r 


=> 


155 


OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE, COLUMBIA, S. C., Jan. 25, 1896. 
I, D. H. Tompkins, Secretary of State, certify the foregoing to be a true 
copy of a treaty made with the Catawba Indians, and recorded in this office in 
Vol. II of Miscellaneous Records, page 234. 
Witness my hand to the great seal of State. 
(Signed) D. H. TOMPKINS, Secretary of State. 


The State, instead of procuring for the tribe a reservation in 
‘« Haywood County, North Carolina, or in some other mountain- 
ous or thinly populated region,’’ reserved for them 800 acres 
of the lands they had surrendered, and for a number of years 
has given them an annual pension of $800.00. 

Soon after the treaty was made, the Catawbas became dissatis- 
fied, and a number of them left the State ; some of them sought 
a home among the Cherokees in North Carolina, but finding 
that their old enemies had not yet forgiven them for opposing 
them in their wars with the whites, they soon returned. 

Shortly after they had given up their lands, a full report in 
regard to the tribe was made to the Legislature by C. G. Mem- 
minger; this paper gives the name and age of each Catawba 
then on the reservation, and a copy of it is now preserved in 
the State House at Columbia. 

Governor Noble’s successors, Governors Richardson and 
Hammond, referred to the Catawbas in their Messages to the 
Legislature, and the former said: ‘‘ We must find a home for 
this homeless people.’’ 

The following is an extract from the annual report of the 
Bureau of Ethnology (1883-84) :— 


“By the terms of an Act of Congress, approved July 29, 1848, an appro- 
priation of $5000.00 was made to defray the expenses of removing the Catawba 
Indians from Carolina to the country west of the Mississippi River, provided 
their assent should be obtained, and also conditioned upon success in securing 
a home for them among some congenial tribe in that region without cost to.the 
Government. 

‘‘ Their territorial possessions have been curtailed to a tract of some fifteen 
miles square on the Catawba River, on the northern border of South Carolina, 
and the whites of the surrounding regions were generally desirous of seeing 
them removed from the State. 

‘« Jn pursuance, therefore, of the provision of the Act of 1848, an effort was 
made by the authorities of the United States to find a home for them west of 
the Mississippi River. Correspondence was opened with the Cherokee authori- 
ties on the subject during the summer of that year, but the Cherokees being 
unwilling. to devote any portion of their domain to the use and occupation of 
any other tribe without being fully compensated therefor, the subject was 
dropped.” 


14 


At a later period, a party of Catawbas removed to the Choc- 
taw Nation in Indian Territory and settled near Scullyville, but 
they are now said to be extinct; about twelve years ago, a few 
of the tribe became converts to Morman missionaries in South 
Carolina and went with them to Salt Lake City, Utah. 

In 1894, the Smithsonian Institution published the fullest ac- 
count of the Catawbas extant in the monograph, ‘* Siouan Tribes 
of the East,’’which has already been referred to and largely used 
in this sketch; the author, Mr. Mooney, being of the highest 
authority in matters pertaining to the tribe, the following extract 
is taken from his works as a summary :— 


*« The following figures show the steady decline of the tribe from the first 
authentic reports to the present time. At the first settlement of South Caro- 
lina (about 1682) they numbered about 1500 warriors, equivalent perhaps to 
6000 souls (Adair, 5). In 1701 they were ‘a very large nation, containing 
many thousand people’ (Lawson, 11), In 1728 they had but little more than 
400 warriors, equivalent perhaps to 1600 souls (Byrd, 22). In 1738 they 
suffered from the small-pox, and in 1743, even after they had incorporated a 
number of smaller tribes, the whole body consisted of less than 400 warriors. 
At that time this mixed nation consisted of the remnants of more than twenty 
different tribes, each still retaining its own dialect. Others included with them 
were the Wateree, who had a separate village, the Eno, Cheraw or Sara, 
Chowan (?), Congaree, Notchee, Yamasi, Coosa, etc. (Adair, 6). In 1759 
the small-pox again appeared among them and destroyed a great many. In 
1761 they had left about 300 warriors, say 1200 total, ‘ brave fellows as any 
on the continent of America, and our firm friends’ (Description of South 
Carolina, London, 1761). In 1775 they had little more than 100 warriors, 
about 409 souls; but Adair says that small-pox and intemperance had con- 
tributed more than war to their decrease (Adair, 7). They were further re- 
duced by small-pox about the beginning of the Revolution, in consequence of 
which they took the advice of their white friends and invited the Cheraw still 
living in the settlements to move up and join them (Gregg,4). This increased 
their number, and in 1780theyhad 150 warriors and a total population of 490 
(Mass., 1). About 1784 they had left only 60 or 70 warriors, or about 250 
souls, and of these warriors it was said, ‘ such they are as would excite the deri- 
sion and contempt of the more western savages’ (Smyth, 1). In 1787 they 
were the only tribe in South Carolina still retaining an organization (Gregg). 
In 1822 they were reported to number about 450 souls (Morse, 1), which is 
certainly a mistake, as in 1826 a historian of the State says they had only about 
30 warriors and 110 total population (Mills, 4). In 1881 Gatschet found 
about 85 persons on the reservation on the western bank of Catawba River, 
about three miles north of Catawba Junction, in York County, South Carolina, 
with about 35 more working on farms across the line in North Carolina, a 
total of about 120. Those on the reservation were much mixed with whit€blood, 
and only about two dozen retained their language. The best authority then 
among them on all that concerned the tribe and language was an old man 


~ 


called Billy George. They’received a small annual payment from the State in 
return for the lands they had surrendered, but were poor and miserable. For 
several years they have been without a chief. In 1889 there were only about 
50 individuals remaining on the reservation, but of this small remnant the 
women still retain their old reputation as expert potters. They were under the 
supervision of an agent appointed by the State.” 


CONDITION. 


Scarcely more than one hundred years ago the hoofprints of the 
buffalo became scarce in South Carolina, and it would, perhaps, 
have been well for the Catawba Indian had he followed him to 
the distant West ; for the exterminating greed of the white man 
has almost driven him, too, from the boundless regions in which 
he used to roam, cruel legislation has allowed his lands to be sold 
and his money squandered, and, after all, he is in not much bet- 
ter condition morally, socially, or financially than when he was 
a savage in the woods, with God-given ability to live with less 
struggle than he has to-day. Many a red man fell at the crack 
of the pioneer’s rifle ; the rest fled inward as though retreating 
before some angry waters, which slowly began to surround them 
and threatened to break over their heads. With no avenues of 
escape, the Catawbas have been driven in and corralled, not un- 
like the buffalo before them, and whose fate our boasted civiliza- 
tion may yet force them toshare. The 225 square miles of land, 
which was confirmed to the tribe as a reservation in 1764, has 
been curtailed until now they are huddled together on the 
meagre allowance of only 800 acres! It remains to be seen if 
they will be still further crowded and encroached upon until they 
give up in despair and pass out over the plowed fields, whose 
furrows the white man has nearly run to the Indian’s very door. 
Will he, who was formerly one of the largest freeholders on the 
continent, be compelled to forsake his now humble home and go 
out in search of the proverbial six feet of earth, wherein to lay 
his bones? Will he be forced to the extreme to which one of 
the most prominent chiefs in Indian Territory was recently 
driven? When some one asked this Indian (Chief of the Wichi- 
tas), who recently committed suicide, why he wanted to die, he 
replied: ‘‘Too much white man; Indian no chance; white 
take Indian’s land, then kill Indian—I kill myself.’’ 

After making a tour of the Indian reservations in the West a 
few years ago, the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, recently Civil 
Service Commissioner, wrote :— 


16 


‘« The one thing to be impressed upon the average Indian is that he is not 
being wronged now, and that he has done just as much wrong as he has received 
in the past, and that he ought not to look back on that at all, and that above all 
things he must work, just as a white man does. One of the most pernicious 
things that can be done is to pet too much the Indians that make good progress, 
and this is the thing that Eastern sentimentalists are very apt to do.” 


Mr. Roosevelt probably knows as much about the true Indian 
character as any man in America, and this observation is, no 
doubt, well founded. But as far as the Catawba Indians are 
concerned it does not apply, and no unbiased person, after care- 
fully examining the case, will say that the Catawbas have ‘‘ done 
just as much wrong as they have received in the past ;” indeed, 
the Catawbas present an exception to Indian character, for, when 
oppressed by the whites, with whom they had made ‘‘ eternal 
peace,’’ they have quietly submitted to injustice, and though 
they have been literally robbed of large tracts of land, they 
have never even grumbled—when the Indians on the plains are 
troublesome, troops are sent to hunt them down and kill them 
—are those Indians rewarded whose conduct, in the face of out- 
rage, has remained exemplary? The history of the Catawba 
Nation answers—No ! 

The Catawba Indians have never been ‘“‘ petted ;"’ they always 
have been and still are mistreated and neglected. As to their 
condition, the writer knows whereof he speaks, as he has often 
visited the tribe and has had ample opportunity to study their 
condition. 


RESERVATION. 


The reservation of the Catawba Indians was at one time in 
the remotest backwoods of South Carolina, but within the last 
twenty years the signs of civilization have been rapidly creeping 
toward it. Since the South began to draw Northern capital a 
few years ago, the development of this section of Garolina has 
been phenomenal. ‘The nearest town of consequence to the re- 
servation is Rock Hill, nine miles distant. Fifteen years ago 
there were scarcely half a dozen farm houses in the town—to- 
day, Rock Hill is an important city with a number of cotton 
factories and a population of about ten thousand. However, 
the peaceful stillness of the forests on the reservation is yet 
undisturbed, and here the woodman’s axe has left the Indians a 
noon-day shade. 

I first visited the reservation in the spring of 1893. Iset out 


by 


from Rock Hill early in the morning and went on horseback 
that I might more easily make a tour of the grounds. The limit 
of the Indian land is about one mile from the principal highway 
through that section. Mistaking the road, it happened that I 
entered the reservation from the southwest corner. Here the 
trees and undergrowth were so thick that it was with much diff- 
culty I made my way, until I found a path along the banks of a 
small stream. Following the path for half a mile or more, the 
woods came to an end, and here I had an excellent view of the 
Catawba River, about three hundred yards beyond.* Looking 
up the river I saw a long strip of bottom-land of uniform width 
between it and the edge of a high bluff upon which I was stand- 
ing—the scenery on all sides was strikingly wild and picturesque. 

Turning my horse diagonally into the woods on my left, I 
started in search of the Indians, none of whom I had so far 
seen. After going about one hundred yards, I saw through the 
trees a small clearing—not more than fifty feet square—and in 
the midst of it was an old weather-boarded one-room hut, which 
appeared to be on the verge of falling. Going around to the 
door, I saw a very old Indian woman all alone and sitting on 
the floor with a book in her hands. The greeting I received was 
neither cool nor cordial, but, after hitching my horse, I entered 
the house. It was truly a peculiar-looking abode for a human 
being. It appeared more like a corn-crib, for all around the 
room wasa kind of loft, upon which was stored apparently six or 
eight bushels of unshucked corn. The furniture on the lower 
floor consisted of a plain, dirty-looking bed, several rickety 
chairs, and an old-fashioned spinning-wheel. The woman 
proved to be the widow of Chief Harris, who had died a few 
years before, and the book she had was a Bibie, which, how- 
ever, she could not intelligently read. 

It was nearly a quarter of a mile to the next house; this one 
consisted of two rooms, and, although simply constructed, it 
appeared new and comfortable. Several Indian men were 
lounging near the house, talking. They were dressed in seedy 
clothes, which had probably been bought at a bargain from some 
farmer in the neighborhood. Several women were in the house, 
one of whom was preparing dinner at an open fire-place; the 
others were chatting and watching a dirty little Indian baby that 





* Catawba wine is so-called because it was first made from the wild grapes 
found on the banks of this stream. : 


18 


was crawling on the floor. From what I saw, I presumed the 
dinner consisted entirely of corn-bread and fried bacon. Here 
I was also received in an indifferent manner, and when I left the 
apparently contented group, my departure seemed to interest 
them no more than did my arrival. 

Following a well-defined path through the woods, I came to 
an inviting spring, and here I stopped to lunch. While there, an 
Indian boy and his little sister came with their buckets to get 
water. I could not draw them into conversation until I offered 
them: some lunch, after which the children directed me as to 
where I should go next, and I ended my tour at the house of 
Uncle Billy George, who has the universal good-will, not only of 
the Indians, but of the white people in the neighboring country. 
Here, as at some of the other houses, I was received very kindly. 

Some of the following statements, as to the condition of the 
tribe, are reproduced from an article published in the Charleston 
News and Courier \ast summer :-— 

I found about 80 Indians on the reservation, all folie of this 
number less than a dozen were of pure Indian blood, the re- 
mainder being half-breeds or more nearly white. They do not 
mix blood with the negroes, for whom they entertain the strong- 
est antipathy, and it is said that a negro cannot be induced to 
go on the Indians’ land. B 

The houses on the reservation were generally small and rudely 
constructed ; most of the dwellings consisted of log huts, widely 
scattered over the long, high bluff which overlooks the river. 
These cabins remind one of the typical negro home in the 
farming regions of the South. The reservation has some good 
timber on it, which, however, is being used by the Indians for 
kindling purposes—the principal trees are pine and oak. The 
land is well adapted to cattle raising, but during all my visits 
the only stock I saw on the place was a cow and two mules, A 
few members of the tribe worked parts of the arable land, but 
little attention is paid by the Indians to the profitable corn crops 
which might be raised on their fine bottom-lands. It is safe to 
say that the condition of the Catawbas, generally, is a little be- 
low the standard of the average Southern negro. > 

The Catawba Indians bear an anomalous relation to the State 
of South Carolina; if they are wards of the State, it has proved 
a bad and faithless guardian for them. The Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs at Washington says that they are citizens of 
South Carolina, but they are not taxed and they do not vote. 


28 


The Catawbas have no form of tribal government, although 
they elect a chief every four years ; this official is now ‘‘ Bob Har- 
ris,’’? whose term of office expires in November. It is remarkable 
how near these people come to being an ideal nation, in the 
sense that they need no laws—they are quiet and peaceable, and 
bloodshed on the reservation is almost a thing unheard of. The 
tribe is directly amenable to the laws of South Carolina, but it 
is a notable fact that they have never given the authorities of the 
State any trouble. The only recorded tragedy that has occurred 
among them for a hundred years took place in 1881, when one 
of the Indians was stabbed to death by two white men. A 
brother of the dead Indian, who had witnessed the killing, tes- 
tified in court that the white men were the aggressors ; but the 
latter, after a trial which lasted for three days, were acquitted. 

When the Catawbas work, which is very seldom, the chief occu- 
pation, especially of the women, is the manufacture of pottery, 
earthenware, and pipes. ‘These articles are made in a primitive 
way, which, like the taste for making them, is probably instinctive. 
They make graceful pitchers, flower-jars, vases, and various 
kinds of toys and ornaments. Their wares generally have a soft 
yellowish appearance, especially their tall flower-vases, which are 
not too mean to be touched by the brush of an artist. Their 
pipes, after having been burned, are jet black; they are of all 
shapes and sizes, and are usually of fantastic design, sometimes 
in the form of squirrels, turtles, birds, pots, shoes, and other 
familiar objects. To give these articles an historic interest, the 
clay they use is taken from the Waxhaw Swamps, where a battle 
during the Revolution was fought between Colonel Buford, of 
the American army, and Tarleton, of the British. It was in this 
battle that the British commander received the name of ‘‘ Bloody 
Tarleton,’’ for allowing the American prisoners to be butchered 
after they had surrendered. The Indians carry their wares to 
Rock Hill, where they barter them for old clothes or anything 
that is offered for them. In the course of a few years these 
souvenirs will be appreciated by collectors, for all the full- 
blood Catawbas will soon be dead. Had these people a 
competent person to dispose of these wares for them at their real 
value, their chosen work could be made a lucrative industry 
among them. 

For many years the Catawba Indians retained the ancient rites 
and customs of the tribe, but gradually these have become 
adapted to their changed condition and surroundings ; the energy 


20 


formerly displayed in savage pursuits has given place to indolence. 
The old men say in a tone of pathos: ‘‘ Our people are getting 
out of the old ways and the young folks take no interest in what 
our fathers used to do.’’ ‘Thus the old order has changed, until 
now but a few of the tribe still retain the air of the typical Indian. 
Some of these have never learned the English language, but 
when they are gone the musical tongue of the Catawbas will be 
stilled forever ; and with this generation will, perhaps, pass away 
traditions and conceptions which have traveled down from 
tongue to ear through the centuries. The old Indians will talk of 
their boyhood days and of how their fathers went on the war-path 
against the Cherokees, but when questioned as to the mounds in 
the surrounding country, the reply of ‘“‘ Hiawatha’’ may be 
read in their faces :-— 


“On the grave-posts of our fathers 
Are no signs, no figures painted ; 
Who are in those graves we know not, 
Only know they are our fathers,” 


The oldest Indian on the reservation is ‘‘ Uncle Billy George,” 
who bears in the Catawba language the name of Corrichee. He 
is the only living Indian among those who signed the present 
treaty between his tribe and the State of South Carolina. He 
says that he signed it ‘‘as a witness or somehow that way.” 
The old man recently remarked to a visitor that sometimes he 
could not sleep for thinking about his people. Uncle Billy isa 
fragment of the old times and is one of those links which con- 
nect us with other days. Here is a sketch of his life in his own 
words :— 


«I was born in York County on Cowan’s plantation, above Ebenezer. Iam 
about ninety years old. My people would go out from the reservation to work 
a year or two—that’s when I was born, I came to the reservation when only 
a boy. I remember my father. He’s dead now, and was buried in Union 
County, North Carolina. He was like the old Indians—talked Indian better 
than English. Our people talked differently then from now. They ought to 
keep up the language the Lord gave them. The language they speak now is 
changed a great deal. I was-ten or twelve years old when my father died, I 
have heard him talk about the Revolutionary War. Some of his people were 
in it. He was not himself. My father was fifty or sixty when he died. 

“The foreign Indians used to come here and fight with the old Indians. 
The last fight was close to Rock Hill,and we went upon them and killed them 
out—that was before I was born. My father was in it. He said that the 
foreign Indians slipped in and killed some of our people, and when we saw 
them we-went upon them and killed them. 


2I 


« When the Revolutionary War was over, George Washington gave us I5 
square miles of land. We have been cheated out of it. 

“ ] was living during the War of 1812—was only a boy; I heard talk of the 
fighting when it was going on. 

‘‘T was not in the late war; other Indians were, though; a good many 
went, about 20. 

«‘ J have married twice and have five children in all. We can’t have but 
one wife, and that aint right.” [Influence of Mormon teachings. ] 


Uncle Billy George is nearly half a century older than his 
present wife. His youngest child, Lucy Jane, is now about 
eleven years old. 

The old Indian’s principal means of giving his family bread 
is obtained by selling pipes, and, occasionally, an old-fashioned 
locust bow, with feathered arrows. With one of these bows his 
feeble hand can still send an arrow across the Catawba River, or 
if shot vertically upward, until lost to sight. 

The George family live in a little two-room cabin near the 
river. A large oak and a few fruit trees shade their door-steps ; 
a wild rose bush near the chimney perfumes the air; the tall 
pines in the forest sigh. Here, in nature’s abode, I last saw 
Uncle Billy George sitting in his cabin door with his arm around 
his little girl beside him, the breeze from the river playing alike 
with grizzled hair and raven locks. When the old man thus sits 
and peers listlessly into the forest, his dim eyes seem to brighten, 
for, in his dotage, he perhaps sees familiar forms gliding among 
the trees—they are invisible to other eyes, for they are shadows 
of a generation that has passed away. The bent form and in- 
firm step of poor Uncle Billy George plainly show that he too 
will soon be with these shadows—-we live to old age only to die 
at last.* 

The present condition of the tribe, morally, socially, and 
financially, is a disgrace to themselves, but it is more a disgrace 
to the State in which they live. On the streets of Rock Hill 
these miserable creatures may often be seen begging, and if they 
are befriended they ever after besiege their benefactor. When 
one of them finds a purchaser for his wares, he is like the bee— 
he returns and brings with him aswarm. I have often found a 
dozen or more of them, of both sexes, perched on the steps and 
veranda of my boarding-house, loaded down with wares, having 
waited half a day to intercept me on my return. To show the 
standard of honor among them, I refused to buy a certain jar 





* Uncle Billy George has died since the above was written. 


22 


from one of the men; I told him, however, that if he would find 
a pot made by the old Indians I would pay him handsomely for 
it. In a few days the fellow brought in the same vessel, with 
its bottom broken out, and otherwise disfigured ; it was covered 
with mud, and he claimed it to be a valuable relic just washed 
up by the river. However, there are several members of the 
tribe who are far from being deceitful and thievish, and among 
the few who bear good reputations are Bob Harris and Uncle 
Billy George. 

It is said that the Catawbas are more or less addicted to the 
morphine habit,and they often beg for simple household medi- 
cines, which they take on account of the opiates they contain. 
They are not habitual drunkards because they are too poor to buy 
the whiskey. It is not an uncommon sight to see these poor 
creatures, and, frequently, the women, on the streets of Rock 
Hill late at night, starting on foot in a pouring rain for the 
reservation, nine miles away. 

There is neither a church nor a school on the reservation—it 
is ‘a shame that in a Christian country they never hear the 
Gospel preached. In our ardor for foreign missions let us not 
pass by and neglect the heathen in our midst. 

Would the Catawba Indians receive more religious instruction 
if they were in a Pagan land? To compare the religious condi- 
tion of the Western Indian to that of the Catawbas, the follow- 
ing extract from a report to the United States Civil Service 
Commission, made by the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt in 1893, is 
given :— 

‘* When I reached the Cheyenne River Agency the great Indian Episcopal 
Convocation was in session. The sight was exceedingly interesting and impos- 
ing, some 2000 Indians having gathered for the convocation. There were 
present a large number of native preachers and catechists, and very many lay 
delegates from the different tribes. Doubtless, many of the Indians came to 
the convocation with no particular religious feeling, a good deal as white men 
go to a county fair; but with many the religious sentiment was evidently very 
strong, and I was greatly pleased at the intelligence and fine feeling shown by 
many, both among the laymen and among the preachers. The women’s 
meeting was also very interesting, and it was remarkable to see them contribute 
literally thousands of dollars for various missionary and church purposes.” 


If the Christian people of South Carolina will not look after 
the spiritual welfare of the heathen at their very doors, may 
Providence put it into the hearts of these Christianized Indians 
in the West to send missionaries to the Catawba Indians who 
live almost in the sound of the church bells. If the Christian 


23 


people of South Carolina deny these Indians a helping hand, it 
will be inconsistent in them to sing the grand old missionary 
hymn, which now should be echoing in every land :— 
“ Waft, waft, ye winds, His story, 
And you, ye waters, roll ; 
Till like a sea of glory, 
It spreads from pole to pole.” 


RESPONSIBILITY. 


Perhaps, after the Catawbas have become extinct, some one 
might ask who was responsible. Let us not wait until then to 
place the responsibility where it belongs. If it is South Caro- 
lina’s duty to cherish and guard with a fostering care’the last 
vestige of her aboriginal inhabitants; if she owes anything to 
her earliest benefactors ; if she owes anything to a disinterested 
people who have fought her battles—a people who were courted 
when they were strong, but are now scorned because they are 
weak ; if she owes anything to a people whose territory she has 
absorbed without due compensation; if it is her duty to uplift 
degraded humanity within her borders: then South Carolina is 
responsible; and if she does not soon do something for the 
Catawbas, her escutcheon will bear a stain which time cannot 
erase. 

It is time for the people of South Carolina to compel their 
representatives in the State and General Government to do some- 
thing for these much-wronged and down-trodden people. 

On account of our neglect of duty toward the Indians this 
century has justly been termed a ‘‘ Century of Dishonor.’’ 
Since its beginning the appeals made in behalf of the Catawbas 
have all fallen on stony ground ; at its close will humanitarians 
still turn a deaf ear to their claims for more merciful treatment ? 

Fifty years ago, William Crafts, the celebrated statesman, 
prepared the following petition to the Legislature of South Caro- 
lina for Peter Harris, a Catawba Indian. May this cry, coming 
as it does from the grave, awake in the American heart some 
sense of justice :— 

“T am one of the lingering survivors of an almost extinguished race. Our 
graves will soon be our only habitations. Iam one of the few stalks which 
still remain in the field after the tempest of the Revolution is passed. I fought 
the British for your sake. The British have disappeared nor have I gained by 
their defeat. I pursued the deer for subsistence; the deer are disappearing and 


24 


I must starve. God ordained me for the forest, and my ambition is the shade; 
but the strength of my arm decays, and my feet fail me in the chase. The 
hand which fought the British for your liberties is now open for your relief. In 
my youth I bled in battle that you might be independent; let not my heart in 
my old age bleed for the want of your commiseration.”” 


It has been said that the Indian is treacherous. Before we 
condemn the poor Indian let us cast the beam out of our own 
eyes. Who could have been more treacherous than the white 
man has been? We must not forget that perhaps the first white 
men the Indians of what is now South Carolina ever saw per- 
suaded these innocent and confiding people to visit their ships, 
and, watching the moment when their decks were most crowded, 
suddenly sailed away, carrying nearly two hundred of them into 
captivity. 

Just outside the walls of Fort Moultrie a marble slab, enclosed 
by iron palings, marks the spot where Osceola, the Seminole 
chief, was buried. Everyone is familiar with the story of how 
he was captured under a flag of truce, taken from his people, 
and imprisoned on Sullivan’s Island to pine away and die. 
Here he met his doom on the very spot where, about seventy 
years before, a brother tribe showed their love for Carolina by 
fighting for America’s freedom. No! it is not always the 
Indian who is treacherous, for the white man has been faithless 
to a greater degree. Let usnot wonder that through the curling 
smoke of the peace-pipe the Indian sees the flash of the rifle, 
and that his dying words to the pale face are :— 

“T loathe ye in my bosom, I scorn ye with mine eye; 
I’]l taunt ye with my latest breath, I’ll fight ye till I die. 
I ne’er can ask for quarter, I ne’er can be your slave; 
I’]l swim the tide of slaughter till I sink beneath the wave.” 


Of the 28 Indian tribes in South Carolina 200 years ago, the 
few Catawbas are all that are left. To these let us stretch out a 
helping hand before it is too late, If we cannot be generous, 
let us be just. 







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The Indian Rights Association is a non-partisan, non- 
sectarian organization for promoting the civilization of the 


Indian and for securing his natural and political rights. 


To this end it aims to collect and collate facts, principally 


through the personal investigations of its officers and 


agents, regarding the Indian's relations with the Govern- 


ment and with our own race, concerning his progress in 


“industry and education, his present and future needs. 


Upon the basis of facts, and of legitimate conclusions 


drawn from them, the Association appeals to the American 


people for the maintenance of sucha just and wise policy 


upon the part of the Executive and Congress in dealing 





with these helpless wards of the Nation as may discourage 


fraud and violence, promote education, obedience to law, 
and honorable labor, and finally result in the complete 
absorption of the Indian into the common life of the 


Nation. 






















rr PRESIDENT, 

- PHILIP C. GARRETT. _ 
=e 
ae 

VICE-PRESIDENT, Soe 


RT. REV. O. W. WHITAKER, 1 


_ TREASURER, 


A. YY. HARTSHORNE. | 
CORRESPONDING wcll : 


HERBERT WELSH. 


RECORDING SECRETARY, Br 


ALBERT B, WEIMER. ; 


mn COMMITTEE, 
Mrs. BRINTON COXE, Mrs. Joun M 
CHARLES W.FREEDLEY, — , CHARLES E. Pa’ 
Puivip C, GARRETT, Henry S. Panc 
REv. J. ANDREWS Harris, D.D., J. RODMAN Pav. 


E. Y.. HARTSHORNE, Rev. H. L. Wa’ 
Dr. HENRY HARTSHORNE, — ALBERT B, WE! 
CHARLES F. JENKINS, HERBERT WEL 
FRANCIS FISHER KANE, Miss S. P. WH 
GEORGE GLuyAs MERCER, Rr. Rev. O. W.’ 
N. Dupors MILLER, E, M. WIsTAR. 


